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From the Book of Heaven by Luisa Piccarreta

 

Volume 8: March 15, 1908
When souls are all filled with God, storms have no strength to agitate them even slightly.

This morning, I was feeling more than ever oppressed because of the privation of my highest and only good, but at the same time I was placid, without those anxieties that used to make me go round through Heaven and earth, and only when I would find Him, then would I stop. So I was saying to myself: ‘What a change – I feel petrified from the pain of your absence, yet, I do not cry, I feel a profound peace that invests me completely; not a contrary breath enters into me.’ At that moment, blessed Jesus came and told me: “My daughter, do not want to trouble yourself.

You must know that when there is a strong storm in the sea, where the waters are deep the storm is only superficial. The depths of the sea are in the most perfect calm, the waters remain tranquil, and the fish, when they detect the storm, go to nest where the water is deeper so as to be safer. So, the whole storm unloads itself where the sea contains very little water, because since there is little water, the storm has the strength to agitate it from top to bottom, and even to transport it elsewhere, to other points of the sea.

So it happens to souls when they are completely filled with God - up to the brim, up to overflowing outside: storms have no strength to upset them even slightly, because there is no strength that can defy God; at the most, they may feel it superficially. Even more, as the soul detects the storm, she puts the virtues in order, and goes to nest in the inmost depths of God. So, while externally there seems to be a storm, it is completely false – it is then that the soul enjoys more peace, and rests, tranquil, in the bosom of God, just like the fish in the bosom of the sea.

All the opposite for the souls who are empty of God, or contain just a little bit of God: storms agitate them all over; and if they have a little bit of God, they waste it. Nor does it take strong storms to agitate them; the slightest wind is enough to make virtues flee from them. Even more, holy things themselves, which form a delicious pasture for those former souls who enjoy them to their fill, for these souls, turn into storms. They are knocked about by all the winds; from no side is it ever dead calm for them, because reason demands that where the whole of God is not, the inheritance of peace is far away from them.”

 

Volume 17: August 9, 1924
Image of the living in the Divine Will: what the sea does for the fish, and the earth for the plants.

After much waiting for the presence of my adorable Jesus, I felt Him in my interior, extending His arms and saying to me: "My daughter, extend your arms together with Me, in my Will, to repair for many who lay their works in the human will, which forms for them the net of all evils that makes them fall into the eternal abyss, and to prevent my justice from pouring upon them in order to vent its just fury. In fact, when the creature lays herself in my Will in order to work and to suffer, my justice feels touched by the creature with the power of my Will, and it ceases its just rigors. And so a divine vein comes out, which the creature makes flow between God and the human family; and because of it, my justice cannot help having regard for poor humanity."

And while He was saying this, He showed how the creatures are preparing a great revolution, among parties, against the government and against the Church. What a horrible massacre could be seen! How many tragedies! Then, my sweet Jesus continued: "My daughter, have you seen? Creatures do not want to stop it; their greed for shedding blood is not yet quenched in them, and this will cause my justice - by earthquakes, by water and by fire - to destroy entire cities and to make their inhabitants disappear from the face of the earth. Therefore, my daughter, pray, suffer, work in my Will, because this alone can be an embankment, so that my justice may not burst out with its devastating thunderbolts in order
to destroy the earth.

Oh, if you knew how beautiful and delighting it is to see a soul operate in my Will! An image can be given to you by father sea and mother earth, which are so bound and linked to each other, that the water cannot be without the earth, and the earth would not be fecund without the water. There is like a marriage between them, such that the sea can be called "father", and the earth "mother". Such should be the union of the soul with my Will. Now, what is there in the sea? An immensity of waters. Who inhabits these waters? Whom do these waters nourish? To whom do they give life? To many different fish, which feed themselves, swim and dart within the immense sea. Do you see, then? The sea is one, but many fish live in it; however, the love and the jealousy of the sea toward them is so great that it keeps them hidden within itself. Its waters lay themselves above and below, to the right and to the left. If the fish wants to swim and to walk, it slices through the waters and, darting, it amuses itself; while the water lets itself be sliced through, but it presses itself around it, below and above it, and it never leaves it. And it immediately closes the step behind its way, leaving no trace along the places by which it passes or at which it arrives, so that no one may follow it. If it wants to be nourished, the water offers itself to feed it; if it wants to rest, it becomes its bed. But it never leaves it - it always presses itself around it. However, in spite of this, one can see that in the sea there are beings which are not the waters themselves; one can see movements, darts, formed by these mute inhabitants, whose life is the sea, while they are the glory, the honor and the richness of the sea.

More than fish is the soul who works and lives in my Will. My Will is immense, the creature is finite; however, she has her motions, her voice, her little walks. And as my Will sees her within Itself, Its love and jealousy are so great that, more than sea, It lays Itself above and below her, to the right and to the left, becoming the life, the food, the word, the work, the step, the suffering, the bed, the rest, the dwelling of this fortunate creature. It follows her everywhere, and It arrives at amusing Itself together with her. I could say that she is my glory, my honor and the richness which my Will
produces.

The working of the soul in my Will is like the swimming and the darting of the fish in the terrestrial sea; and the soul does it in the celestial sea of the Supreme Volition. These souls are the hidden inhabitants of the celestial waves, who live for the immense honor and for the merit of the infinite sea of my Will. And just as the fish are hidden, vanished within the sea, mute, yet forming the glory of the sea and serving as food for man, so do these souls seem to be vanished within the Divine sea - mute; yet, they form the greatest glory of Creation, and are the primary cause for my letting descend upon earth the delicious food of my Will and of my grace....

 

Volume 25: December 21, 1928
Sea of love in the excesses of Jesus. Example of the sea. The Divine Will, solar ray which brings the Life of Heaven. The Divine Will operating. Happiness of Jesus.

The novena of Holy Christmas continues, and continuing to hear the nine excesses of the Incarnation, my beloved Jesus drew me to Himself, and showed me how each excess of His love was a sea without boundaries. And, in this sea, gigantic waves rose, in which one could see all souls flowing, devoured by these flames. Just as the fish flow in the waters of the sea, and the waters of the sea form the life of the fish, the guide, the defense, the food, the bed, the palace of these fish, so much so, that if they get out of the sea, they can say, “our life is ended, because we have gone out of our inheritance – the fatherland given to us by our Creator”; in the same way, these gigantic waves of flames which rose from these seas of fire, by devouring the creatures, wanted to be the life, the guide, the defense, the food, the bed, the palace, the fatherland of creatures. But as they go out of this sea of love, all of a sudden, they find death. And little Baby Jesus cries, moans, prays, shouts and sighs, for He wants no one to go out of these devouring flames of His, because He does not want to see anyone die. Oh! if the sea had reason, more than tender mother it would sadly cry over its fish which are snatched away from its sea, because it feels a life, which it possesses and preserves with so much love, being snatched away from itself; and with its waves, it would hurl itself at those who dared to snatch away from it so many lives which it possesses, and which form its richness, its glory.

“And if the sea does not cry, I cry” – Jesus says – “in seeing that, while my love has devoured all creatures,ungrateful, they do not want to live life in  my sea of love, but wriggling free from my flames, they exile themselves from my Fatherland, losing the palace, the guide, the defense, the food, the bed, and even the life. How can I not cry? They came out of Me – they were created by Me, and were devoured by my flames of love which I had in incarnating Myself for love of all creatures.

As I hear the nine excesses being narrated to Me, the sea of my love swells - it boils; and forming huge waves, it roars so much, that it would want to deafen everyone, that they might hear nothing but my moans of love, my cries of sorrow, my repeated sobs, saying: ‘Don’t make Me cry any more, let us exchange the kiss of peace; let us love each other, and we will all be happy – the Creator and the creature’.”

Jesus kept silent, and at that moment I saw the heavens opened and a ray of light descend from above, which, fixing itself upon me, illuminated those who were around me. And my always lovable Jesus resumed His speaking: “Daughter of my Will, this solar ray that fixed itself upon you is my Divine Will, which brings you the life of Heaven into your soul. How beautiful is this solar ray, which not only illuminates you and brings you its life, but whoever draws near you and remains around feels the life of light, because, like sun, it expands around, and gives to those who surround you
the warm kiss of light, of its breath, of its life. And I feel happy within you in seeing that my Divine Will diffuses and begins to beat its way.

See, the seas of love that you saw are nothing other than my Will operating. When my Will wants to operate, the seas of my love swell, boil, form their gigantic waves which cry, moan, shout, pray, deafen. On the other hand, when my Fiat does not want to operate, the sea of my love is calm, it only murmurs quietly, its course of joy and of happiness, inseparable from it, is continuous.

Therefore, you cannot comprehend the joy I experience, the happiness I feel and the interest I take in illuminating, in offering my very word, my very Heart, to one who occupies himself with making my Divine Will known. My interest is so great, that I envelop him within Myself and, I Myself overflowing outside of him, I take the floor, and I Myself speak about my Will operating in my love. Do you think that it is your confessor that
speaks, in these evenings in which he is speaking in public about the nine excesses of my love? It is I who take his heart in my hands and make him speak.”

But while He was saying this, benediction was being given, and Jesus added: “Daughter, I bless you; everything is happiness for Me when it comes to doing an act of mine over one who possesses my Divine Will, because, if I bless you, my blessing finds the space in which to place the goods and the effects which my blessing contains; if I love you, my love finds in my Fiat, within you, the space in which to place itself and carry out its life of love. Therefore, each thing I do over you, in you and with you, is a happiness that I feel, because I know that a Divine Will has the place for everything
I want to give you, and the virtue of multiplying the goods I give you, because It is Our all-doer, and It occupies Itself with forming as many lives for as many acts as We do with the creature in whom It reigns.”

After this, I was doing my round in the Divine Fiat, and was going again to the first times of Creation, to unite myself to the acts done by our father Adam in the state of innocence, so as to unite myself with him and continue from where he left. And my beloved Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, in creating man I gave a visible universe in which he was to move freely and see the works of his Creator, done with so much order and harmony, done for love of him, and, in this void, to also do his own works. And just as I gave a visible void, so I gave an invisible void, even more beautiful, for his soul, in which man was to form his holy works, his sun, his heavens, his stars; and echoing his Creator, he was to fill this void with all his works. But since man descended from my Divine Will to live in his own, he lost the echo of his Creator and the model with which to be able to copy Our works. Therefore, it can be said that in this void there is nothing other than the first steps of man – all the rest is empty. Yet, it must be filled, and this is why I await with so much love those who live and must live in my Will, who, feeling the power of our echo and having Our
models present to them, will hasten to fill this invisible void which I gave with so much love in Creation. But do you know what this void is? It is Our Will. Just as I gave a heaven, a sun, to man’s nature, so I gave the Heaven, the Sun of my Fiat to his soul. And when I see you take your steps after the steps of Adam innocent, I say: ‘Finally, here is the void of my Divine Will that begins to receive the first conquests and the first works of the creature.’ Therefore, be attentive and continue always your flight in my Divine Volition.”